Doulos is pleased to continue our partnership with the UK Electronics Skills Foundation (UKESF) in delivering the Semiconductor Skills Development Course: Essential Digital Design Techniques, running online from 2 February to 2 March 2026. Following a fully booked first cohort in September 2025, this second delivery will build on its success by helping more aspiring engineers gain the practical design skills needed across the UK semiconductor sector.
This free, government-funded course bridges the gap between academic theory and real-world practice, equipping participants to take on a career in digital design.
“My skills have improved, but more importantly my broad understanding of the industry and different processes have significantly improved.” - Course Participant, September 2025
What Participants Will Learn
Participants will develop practical skills in combinational and sequential logic design for PLDs and ASICs, with a strong emphasis on synchronous techniques. They will learn how to design and implement core digital structures such as decoders, multiplexers, shift registers and counters, and gain confidence in creating synchronous finite state machines.
The course also provides an overview of ASIC and programmable logic design, including current state-of-the-art devices, and explores best-practice design methodologies and development flows. In addition, participants will gain an understanding of on-chip bus architectures, focusing on the widely used AMBA 3 APB and AXI protocols.
Course Sessions
- Live Session #1: Monday 2 February, 10:00–12:00
- Self-paced study: 16 hours on the Doulos platform, completed between 2 February and 2 March
- Live Session #2: Monday 2 March, 10:00–12:00
Eligibility Requirements
- Must be a 3rd-, 4th-, or final-year Electronics undergraduate, placement-year student, or Electronics postgraduate at a UK university
- Must be a home student, British National, or have settled status
- Places are limited, register your interest by Sunday 11 January
Why Join?
Completed by almost 1,000 engineers across the UK, this trusted training course is widely recognised by leading semiconductor employers. With a strong emphasis on practical design and hands-on workshops, it has been specifically developed to teach essential digital design techniques in an intensive and effective format.
It provides valuable first-stage training for graduate design engineers, as well as those transitioning into digital design from other areas such as software or analogue engineering. The course also serves as a natural precursor to developing language skills including VHDL, Verilog, and SystemVerilog, commonly required for FPGA and ASIC design roles.
“The exposure to real-world design and verification processes has deepened my understanding of the industry's demands.” - Course Participant, September 2025
Facilitated by Doulos
The course is led by Matthew Taylor, a senior Doulos instructor with over 30 years of industry experience at Sony, Siemens, and across numerous FPGA/ASIC projects.
Register your interest now » https://www.ukesf.org/semiconductor-skills-development-course/essential-digital-design-techniques/
Places are limited and high demand is expected.
